Buy you a drank

Last Friday, I went downtown with a couple friends, braving the crowds pouring in from ACL weekend. We were barhopping, trying to find a place with a dance floor and elbow room, but most were packed wall-to-wall. Most of the bars we went into were first times for me, as I most frequently end up on 4th street.

We got to Treasure Island, a decent place with a dance floor, a patio and the properly-themed decor. I bought a round of H bombs (amazing, please try) which ran $12, but to my surprise, the bartender informed me that the credit card minimum was $15, something I’d never encountered at a bar before. OCH and Rain don’t do this and many 6th street clubs don’t either. So I hesitantly bought another drink before my tab was closed and my friend and roommate Lisa told me this was illegal.

I knew it was a crappy thing for me but I’d been to plenty of gas stations, businesses on the drag and restaurants that had a minimum charge policy. I even mentioned in the Double Dave’s entry last week that they have a $5 minimum. To me it had been a small annoyance, but to credit card companies, it’s a violation of their merchant agreements. I searched the Internet for some information on this and found an MSNBC article from 2006 explaining why.

[Save your receipt and hopefully you'll remember where you put it.]

If you’re using Visa or MasterCard, those businesses signed agreements allowing the credit card companies to charge a service fee, but in turn, businesses cannot charge a fee to customers. I can see why a business wouldn’t want that deal, but they signed the agreement. Businesses are however, allowed to give discounts for paying with cash or check and many gas stations are beginning to do this.

So what can you do about it? Save your receipt and report the business to the bank or institution that gave you the card. They can take the entire purchase of your card and the business can be fined $1500.

‘The Steps’ to perform at ACL

“We want the steps! We want the steps!” cried a drunken and music-crazed crowd at the end of the Sound and the Jury competition at Antone’s last night. Bouncers kicked out a couple people, my friend’s glasses got knocked off during the show, narrowly surviving destruction–we were in the front, jumping right along with old guy and tall guy in blazer. It was a great pre-cursor to ACL and an awesome Wednesday. The modern day rock and 60s Brit pop sound of The Steps won them the spot at the festival on Friday, but five other bands put on great shows as well.

• The Scotland Yard Sale started everything off–the fun, talented and eclectic band centered on keyboards, vocals and of course their accessories player and stage dancer, fitted with aviators.

• The Quiet Company went up next, an intense group with 3 keyboards a set of bells and a ton of energy.They reminded me of Radiohead except that I felt happy afterward and not suicidal. (I love Radiohead, but that is just how they make you feel.)

• Good Morning Maxfield from Salt Lake City, Utah, provided a trippy but positive sound fused from classic and modern rock and folk. The best part about them for me was that their fill-in bassist is also the father of one of their guitarists and he was rocking out to the music. Though his dream of playing the festival didn’t come true, he got to play an awesome show with a great band in Austin, and I could tell he was loving it.

• T-Bird & the Breaks made the whole audience break out in a dance party. Their R&B, soul sound provided a fresh break from all the hipster-ness and the 11 piece band entertained the whole way through their set.

• 60 Tigres from Monterrey, Mexico sang mostly in Spanish and brought driving percussive sound into their rock.

And finally, The Steps ended the show with a bang and hopefully no injuries. Here’s some video I took of all the bands. Apologies for short clips of the last two bands, my memory card filled up at the end of the show. If you want to listen to more, go to their web sites or itunes.

You be the jury

Do you remember those books (You be the jury)? I loooved them. They presented a case with hokie names and you had to solve the mystery case, innocent or guilty. So exciting.

Aaanyway, you can once again be the jury and live in a clear cut world this week in The Sound and the Jury contest. It’s round 4, stakes are high and the audience along with judges will be deciding which band will win fame, glory and a spot at ACL’s Dell Stage on Friday, Sept. 26. Dell sponsors the competition so the winning band receives a laptop as well as travel money and obviously, ACL passes.

[From the competition's web site]

The contest started in July with 100 bands and the final six will play at Antone’s this Wednesday. It’s a free! show so come early, be loud and help send one lucky band to the festival.

You can also listen to each of the bands before you go.

The Steps

The Scotland Yard Sale

60 Tigres

T-Bird & the Breaks

Good Morning Maxfield

Quiet Company